Bound by the Forest
by monsterXmash
Summary: The prince of Mirkwood finds himself falling for a tree spirit. ::: Legolas/OFC
1. Chapter 1

The prince of Mirkwood finds himself falling for a tree spirit.

:: Legolas/OFC ::

(I do not own Lord of the Rings)

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><p>Legolas was excited to bathe in the pool that he found a few hours earlier. It had been days since he had a bath, months since he had a proper one. In his haste to make it to the pool before his companions came looking for him, he began tearing off his clothes and throwing them on the grassy floor of the forest.<p>

Before he entered the clearing, he noticed a woman walking out of the pool. Legolas quickly ducked behind a tree, lest he be noticed and accused of spying. He looked around him to where he had thrown his clothes. Some items were too far away and if he were to attempt to get them, he would draw attention to himself. It was a good thing he still wore his pants.

After a moment, he peeked out from behind the tree. The woman was wet and completely naked. Her hair hung low on her back before she took it in her hands and wrung it out. As she stretched out her body and reached her hands high up to the heavens, a few wandering rays of sunlight found their way through the trees and onto her flesh.

The girl then found her dress and slipped it over her head. The droplets of water that still clung to her body made the fabric stick to her skin. The elf felt his own body stirring and let out a ragged breath. He hid back behind the tree and leaned the back of his head against it. When he opened his eyes, the woman was standing in front of him.

"You were watching me," she said, more of a statement than a question. Her voice was warm and thick, and she looked slightly surprised when she heard the sound.

"Yes... I was," he replied, ashamed, but quickly recovered. Was this the being that he felt spying on him and his companions all morning? "And you've been watching us."

"Yes... I was." She responded as if she was just repeating his words, not answering him. "The wizard and the men and the dwarf and the hobbits... And you." She stared at the elf, seemingly content in the silence. He stepped towards her, and she did the same towards him, so they ended up closer than he intended. If he wanted to, he could have reached out and touched her as she stood still as a statue. Instead, he studied the curious girl. Her forest green eyes never left his and he had to glance down to avoid the intensity of her stare.

"Who are you?" he inquired, finally looking back up at the girl.

"I am a tree - or the spirit of a tree, at least." The air around them was quiet for a moment.

"How is that so?"

She looked confused, brows furrowed in thought. "I am not sure." She shook her head, as if trying to will some memory to reveal itself from the recesses of her mind. "I used to be a tree and now... now I am this." She gestured to her body as if Legolas had not noticed the soft curves and glowing skin that so obviously belonged to a woman.

He observed her distress and stepped closer to her while speaking softly. "What are you called?" he asked the tree spirit.

"I only belong to this wood. I have no name."

"You belong to the wood?"

"Yes. I am bound by it," she answered him. "I can not pass the boundaries of the forest."

She sighed and looked around her, scanning the trees. As if she forgot about her elven companion, she walked away and headed towards what had to be the oldest tree in the forest - tall and knotted, it seemed to go on infinitely into the canopy. She placed her hand on the trunk and caressed the bark, whispering words to it that Legolas could neither hear nor understand if he did. She sighed in defeat then carefully dropped to the ground, sitting with her back against the aged tree. All the while, Legolas watched her with an intense interest. In all his years on Earth, he had never met a tree spirit before. He longed to ask her more questions, but her interaction with the elder seemed too intimate that he dared not interrupt.

"These trees have gone so deep inside themselves that you would think there was never anything there at all," she told him. "And why has this not happened to myself? Why was I given a human body instead of being allowed to retreat into my old one like my kin?"

He let her to contemplate her questions while he quietly walked over to where she sat. He placed his hands on the tree just as she did. He hoped to miraculously come up with some answers for her - this girl who seemed more apart of the forest than even the grass that grew around her, but so lost in the world at the same time.

Finding no answers, he sat down next to the spirit. She watched as the wind caught his hair, blowing the light tresses back behind him. At the same time, he caught her scent - tree bark and cocoa, and something else not so heavy. Something fresh and new that he could not quite place. She stared at him thoughtfully.

"I never knew how alone I was until you came into this wood. Many people have passed through, but I have never spoken to anyone before."

The elf prince did not know whether to feel upset or pleased, but he did give her a small smile which she promptly returned.

"Come with us," he suddenly requested of the girl, surprising even himself. "Come with me and my companions. Then you will not be alone."

Her smile faltered and she looked down at her hands in her lap. "I can not. I am bound by the forest until I am released," she told him once again.

Legolas felt an overwhelming feeling of disappointment swell his heart. Why did he feel such a connection to this girl - this tree spirit?

"How could one free you?" His voice was a whisper and his soft breath brushed against her cheek.

"This I do not know. I fear I will be confined to this place forever."

He looked at the girl, her head still bent so she could watch her fingers fidget with one another. He placed his hand under her chin and gently lifted her head up so that he could look into her green eyes. She regarded the hand, astonished, and grabbed his wrist. After a moment she began slowly caressing his bare forearm down to his elbow and then back up to his shoulder.

"I have never felt another's flesh before," she told him, entranced with the smooth skin of his arm. He let her pet his throat and then his face, tracing his jawline and cheekbones. She stroked his hair and buried her fingertips in the pin straight tresses, massaging his scalp. His breath began to labor.

"You have paid no mind to your own?" he manged to ask her.

She shook her head no. The girl allowed her hands to wander down to his naked chest and stomach. The elf's sharp intake of breath startled her and she jumped to her feet.

"I should go! Please forgive me ..."

But before the girl could scamper off, Legolas swiftly got to his feet and stopped her. He clasped her shoulders in his hands and held her still. "It's ok. It's ok. Don't go."

He pulled her close and hugged her body to his. Tentatively, she wrapped her arms around his waist and, once comforted, buried her face into his chest. He stroked her still damp hair. "It's ok," he repeated. She tilted her head up to look at Legolas.

"You remind me of a breeze I was once in love with, long ago. Are you him? Did you return to me in the body of an elven prince?"

Their lips almost touched as she whispered to him. To the girl's delight, he held her face in his hands and smiled down at her.

"If it was me that you were in love with, I would have never left."

Slowly, he brought his lips down to touch hers. He kissed her lightly, unsure of what she would do. Her lips were clumsy at first, but then she started to kiss back with fervor. Her hands were no longer on his waist, but around his neck. She moaned into his mouth. Never had she felt anything as soft as his lips. Never had her body burned like it did at that moment...


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

Thank you for all the reviews!

(I do not own Lord of the Rings)

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><p>Reluctantly, the elf broke the kiss and leaned his forehead against the girl's. They stood silently in the middle of the forest, wrapped in each others' bare arms. She could feel the heat of his skin through the thin fabric of her dress. He could smell the sweet scent of her breath as she softly sighed in contentment.<p>

"Your skin is ... magical," she told him. The girl nuzzled her nose into his neck. She kissed his throat and the elf's grip on her hips tightened.

"LEGOLAS!"

The couple jerked their heads up in surprise. The girl jumped away from the elf.

"I have to go. They can't see me!"

"Why not? What's wrong?"

"I can't ... I can't." The girl shook her head and began backing away from the elf. "Do not tell them about me."

"But Gandalf ... the wizard, he could help you!" He closed the gap between them in a few strides. Legolas stroked her hair and smiled down excitedly at her. "He can help you!"

She stood thoughtfully, staring at the man's eager face for only a second. Hesitantly, she gave into his request. "Alright. But only the wizard."

The elf kissed her.

"LLEEGGOOLLAASS!"

She gently pushed him away, but smiled at him. "Go! Your friends sound worried."

Before he could say anything back to her, the girl was off, running in the opposite direction of the seeker. The man stood rooted to the spot, looking into the dense trees that his companion had disappeared in to. He could no longer see the girl, nor could he hear her, though she could not yet be outside the limits of his infallible eyesight. He did begin to notice other things moving within the forest.

"LEGOLAS!"

"I'm here ... I AM HERE!"

A man came running towards him, the rest of the elf's clothes in his hands. "Legolas, are you well? Have you not heard us calling?"

He turned to his comrade and regarded him with confusion. "How long have you been searching?"

"Near to an hour - it is almost dark."

Legolas was handed his clothes and he looked around the wood inquisitively while slipping them on. Aragorn scrutinized the elf. "Are you sure nothing is the matter?"

The elf ignored the question, already deep in thought. The two began walking back to camp.

"How do you feel when you are around Arwen?" Legolas asked abruptly.

"That is an unexpected question ... What evokes it?"

"It is only a question."

Aragorn was suspicious of his friend's intent, but answered his query anyhow. "When I am with Arwen, she is all I see. She is all I hear ... and feel. When I am with her, time stands still."

Legolas stopped and looked at the still advancing form of his companion. "And that is love?"

The man turned back and looked at the elf tenderly. "Yes, that is love."

He began walking again and Legolas jogged to catch up with him. "And when she leaves - it is as though you have awoken from a dream? Everything is clearer and sharper than it was before?"

"Why the inquisition, my friend?"

"I was just curious," Legolas told him, unconvincingly. Aragorn chose not to press the issue if the elf was not ready to talk about it.

...

When the pair got back to camp, Legolas immediately sought out the wizard, but could not find him. Instead, he ran into one of his hobbit companions.

"Frodo, where is Gandalf?"

"He had business to attend to. He said we should wait here for a few days."

"Do you know where he went?"

The hobbit laughed at his friend. "Do you wish to follow him?"

Legolas was less amused, but also in high spirits from the day's past events. He patted Frodo on his shoulder and smiled in gratitude.

...

The first few hours of night were sleepless for the elf. Not only was Gimli's snoring from a few yards away keeping him up, but thoughts of the nameless tree spirit were also plaguing him. He imagined her eyes - greener than the grass that she had sprung forth from. He could feel her hands on his skin and wished for her true touch. The sound of her voice rang in his ears, innocent and rich. He could almost hear her calling to him.

Or was that real? Legolas rose from a slumber that he did not notice he had fallen into. He surveyed the people around him. They all seemed to be fast asleep, and Legolas hoped that him sneaking off for a little while would go unnoticed. Quietly, he left the clearing and wandered into the forest. Underneath the thick trees, the air was dark, and should have felt ominous, but the promise of seeing the girl removed all thoughts of danger from his mind.

"Legolas..."

The man jumped at the sound and turned to see the girl standing under a patch of light, bathed by the moon. How had he not noticed her there?

She seemed to glide as she approached him and, when she did, she wrapped her arms around his middle and smiled at him. "I wasn't expecting to see you tonight. It is a pleasant surprise."

"Were you not sleeping?"

"Yes, but I heard you coming."

Legolas looked curiously at the girl but she changed the subject.

"The wizard, what did he say of my misfortune?"

"He left. He won't be back for a few days ... But do not worry! I'm sure he'll be able to help somehow."

The elf's heart almost broke when he witness the spirit's sad expression. She tried to hide it, he could tell, but he noticed the change anyway. She brushed a strand of hair out of his face.

"It's alright," she reassured him. "I have been in this body for a while now. A couple more days won't hurt."

"What do you mean? What do you wish Gandalf to do? Do you not want to be released from the forest?" The elf was almost frantic with bewilderment. This confused the girl.

"Oh, no," she furrowed her brow and shook her head. "I want him to help me get my old body back ..."


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3  
><strong>

This chapter is rated **M** for sexual content.

(I do not own Lord of the Rings)

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><p>Legolas and the girl stared at each other in silence, neither knowing what to say. Their hands were still joined together and she stared down at them to try to avoid the tension that was in the air.<p>

"I want to show you something," she finally whispered. She released one of his hands but held on to the other in efforts to lead him further into the wood. She could not help herself from rubbing her thumb against the hand that she held or walking so close to him that her arm brushed against his. They both moved silently and gracefully through the trees - the lithe woodsman and the tree spirit herself - until they were so deep into the forest that the ground was thick with roots.

The girl stopped when she reached her destination and dropped the elf's hand. Without saying a word to him she walked up to a tree. To the untrained eye, this tree was just like any other that surrounded it. The man would remember it always, being used to distinguishing one from another in his woodland home. The woman, she could never forget it. She turned and smiled sadly at the elf.

"What if _you_ were given another body? What if you were changed into a tree, or a man, or anything other than what you are not?" Legolas only stared at the girl, and did not answer her. "And what if you could see it every day - what you used to be? Would you not do anything to go back to how you were before?"

The elf slowly walked over to her and she looked at him expectantly, but he still did not say a word. He stared sadly into the girl's eyes and cupped her face in his hands. He kissed her softly on her lips, and slowly. He was determined to feel her every movement. His hands smoothed down her hair and then he broke the kiss. Still, he said nothing.

Legolas let his fingers dance over her skin. Her flesh was soft and warm in contrast to the cool night air. He left a trail of goosebumps down her arms where his touch lingered. The elf sat down, with his back against the tree, her tree, her old body, and gently pulled her down with him. She sat between his legs with her back snuggled close against his chest. She rested her head on his shoulder, her hair tickling his cheek.

He began to touch her body again. His hands wandered, unashamed, across her breasts. One hand stayed there, finding its way down the top of her dress where it lightly pinched and pulled at her nipple, eliciting a soft moan from her parted lips. His other hand ran down her stomach until he reached her legs. He played with the flesh on her thighs, squeezing and massaging, relishing the way they quivered under his touch. She leaned back closer to the elf, her bottom hugging his hardness in a delicious embrace. He explored her body and she did to his before, but more deeply, more intimately. He sought to memorize everything about her.

She guided his hand deeper into her dress, until he reached a place that no one has ever touched before, not even herself. She let out a ragged gasp as his fingers work inside of her. He educated himself until he is well versed in the the ways of her body. He kissed her neck and reveled in her scent. She rocked her body back and forth, giving Legolas the pleasure that he did not seek out, but welcomed wholeheartedly. After a few minutes of poorly suppressed moans, she arched into him and let out a soft, wild sound, carnal and beautiful. This pushed him over the edge and he, too, cums with her.

He continued to attend to her body, with his hands and lips, letting her cool and calm and regain her breath. "You make me feel like a woman," the spirit admitted to Legolas.

"And not like yourself?"

"Not like a tree, but very much like myself... And it scares me."

Legolas nuzzled his face in the crook of her neck. "I will do whatever I can to help you become what you once were."

"You will not be the one to turn me back. There is something else you were meant to do, but that is not it."

The elf's hands stopped their petting and he whispered in her ear, a desperate pleading in his voice that he had never heard before. "I fear there is something you have not told me."

She picked up Legolas's hand and kissed his knuckles, one by one, then put it over her beating heart. "Some things are too complicated for words."


	4. Chapter 4

**Bound by the Forest**

Chapter 4

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><p>"Gandalf returns already?" Legolas stood with the hobbit Frodo under the afternoon sun, watching as their comrade rode back to camp.<p>

"Be thankful that harm has not befell the wizard. Were you not just asking for him yesterday?"

The elf inhaled deeply and thought of the past night, as he had been doing all day. When he awoke that morning, eyes weighted from not enough sleep, he questioned whether it had all been a dream. But it could not have been. The feel of her flesh was still on his fingertips; her scent heavy on his clothes. Legolas smiled half heartedly. "Yes, I am happy for his return."

He was grateful of course, because he had a promise to keep. But it was a bittersweet feeling, for when she gets her wish, he would have to truly wake from the blessed dream with no doubt of its authenticity. He dreaded that time and could almost feel it there as he stood. It was the moment between dreaming and waking, where the fantasy and the real seemed to overlap. Where the people you met while dreaming faded as much as you tried to remember them.

Frodo ran off the meet the wizard.

o0oOo0oOo0o

"The journey before us is more harrowing than even I realized," Gandalf told his companions once everyone was seated on either the ground or on boulders. "There are beings that wish to halt our progress. Forces have been working against us already."

The friends, Merry and Pippin, looked at each other in dismay. Sam clasped a wide-eyed Frodo's shoulder to comfort him. Legolas only stared past the wizard, to the trees behind him. His mind was on other things, like how he was to get Gandalf alone and if he would be able to help the spirit-woman. Surely Gandalf would be able to help her. What other was more capable? Not himself. In this, he was useless. He remembered her words.

_You will not be the one to turn me back. There is something else you were meant to do, but that is not it._

The elf was oblivious to the discussion around him. The only person that seemed the notice was Aragorn, who studied the elf thoroughly. What was in the wood that took Legolas's mind off of the problems at hand? The elf felt eyes on him and turned to look at his friend. He saw the concern on Aragorn's face but simply shook his head to tell him not to worry.

"We need only to keep our senses sharp," he heard Gandalf say. "Do not let anything lead you off of your intended path."

o0oOo0oOo0o

After the men dispersed, Legolas intended to wander off on his own, not yet ready to ask the wizard for the favor. He knew not how he would explain the situation or if he could take this being the last day he would see the woman. It was Gandalf who sought out the elf. "Your mind seems focused on other things, Legolas.

The blonde sighed, trying to figure out where to start. "The woe of my friend weighs heavy on my heart. She needs help. Your help. I can do nothing for her." Legolas stared down at the grass in sorrow as they continued to walk further away from the others.

"What is your friend called?" Gandalf asked.

Legolas looked up in bemusement. "She has no name, Gandalf."

The wizard removed the pipe from between his lips and blew out a cloud of smoke. "Curious, indeed."

"She is no more woman than spirit. No more spirit than tree. That is what she was once, but she was then given a human body. She is a tree spirit still, I suppose, but she has no recollection of what happened or why."

"She was an ent-wife, mayhaps?"

"Possible. I did not think to ask."

"And what do you wish me to help her with?"

"She wants her old form back."

Gandalf heard the grief in his companion's voice and nodded his head softly, deep in thought. "Take me to this friend. I wish to meet her, presently."

Legolas did not know where to find the woman, but they were already moving towards the forest. The elf knew she would show up eventually, as she had before. She would hear them walking through her wood and joyously meet them with open arms. They would embrace for one last time and Gandalf would help her turn to a tree again... And she would be lost to him forever.

They were in the wood for almost an hour, trekking through the trees, silent and anxious, each lost in his own thoughts. The two checked the pool where he first saw the girl. They checked her tree, the one she would be for the rest of her days. They had no luck either time.

"I apologize, Gandalf. I thought I would be able to find her. But I suppose it will have to wait."

The wizard looked over Legolas's shoulder and smiled. "I think your friend has arrived."


	5. Chapter 5

**Bound by the Forest**

Chapter 5

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><p>"Legolas," the girl called, her voice feather light. She looked like she wanted to move, but was rooted to the spot. The elf smiled and held out his hand, giving her the courage she needed to approach the two men. When she made the steps towards them, she put her hand in the Legolas's and gazed at the wizard apprehensively.<p>

"No need to be frightened, girl. I am Gandalf and I am here to help you."

Legolas tightened his grip on her hand to reassure her and she bowed to the wizard in greeting.

"Let us get more comfortable," Gandalf suggested and slowly made his way to sit, cross legged, on the ground. The pair sat in front of him.

"Start from the beginning," he told the girl. "When did you become like this?"

She furrowed her brow in thought and Gandalf knew she was trying her best to think of the right answer. "I do not understand time," she said. "I don't remember. I am sorry."

The wizard nodded his head and the girl continued, more excited than before. "And I do not understand why I was the one who changed." She looked around the forest. "Everyone else, they were pulled into themselves; trees lacking spirits. And I turned to a woman."

Gandalf considered everything that she was saying in silent contemplation. "It was strong magic to turn you into what you are," he finally said. "To develop into something the exact opposite of your kin, it is truly fascinating." The group sat silent for a few moments. "Have you wandered outside of the forest?" the wizard asked.

"No, I am bound to it."

"So you have attempted?"

The girl looked off into the woods. "Yes," she said quietly.

"And what came of it?"

"Inside of me... it burned and cut, like knives set ablaze. I felt as though I was being ripped apart." Tears filled the spirit's eyes and her lip quivered in remembrance. Legolas took hold of her hand and she looked up at him in gratitude. Gandalf looked down as if there was something interesting in the grass, in attempt to not infringe on their moment. Suddenly, the wizard's head shot up and he stared at the girl. Gandalf gave her a sad, knowing glance and her tears ran down her cheeks. Legolas was unaware of the silent conversation that was going on between the two. He was still watching the girl, wiping the hot tears as they appeared.

"And what if you become as your people?" Gandalf asked after a few more minutes. "What if you become hollow and empty, just bark and roots, and your soul disappears?"

"I would accept my fate," the girl told him.

For the first time since they sat, Legolas spoke. "Why do you wish to be a tree? You wish to be imprisoned in this wood forever?"

"I would be imprisoned whether I was turned back or not! Better to be like them, absent and numb, than stay like this and be alone!" She sighed and placed her hand on the elf's cheek. "I am trapped either way, Legolas. I am trapped." Legolas put his hand over hers, but could not think of what to say to her in reply, so he turned to the wizard.

"Can you help her, Gandalf?"

"She already knows the answer and now you must. I cannot change her back into a tree, nor can I unbind her. The magic will present itself when the time comes, but we can do nothing but wait until the word is spoken."

"Word?" Legolas asked.

With a heavy grunt, the wizard stood. "How else to break a spell but with a word?"

Legolas stood up quickly and the girl followed. "Do you know the word, Gandalf?" the elf asked. "Please, tell me if you do!"

The wizard shook his head. "It is not known to me. Nor is it known to her nor the one who made her as such. The word is in the heart of one and there is only one who can release her."

The elf looked at the girl, eyes full of grief. "I am sorry," he told her. She placed a soft kiss on his lips and surprisingly, she did not seem as upset as he thought she would be.

"Legolas, depart with me, if you will," Gandalf requested.

The elf nodded his head and turned back to the girl. She gave him a half smile, then took one of the wizard's hands in both of hers. "Thank you," she said, heart bursting with gratitude, "for everything." Gandalf smiled at the girl then motioned for the elf to follow him.

"Your senses cloud when you are near her," Gandalf said when they were far enough away.

The elf smiled sheepishly. "Yes, Gandalf."

The wizard turned and roughly grabbed the elf's arm to stop him. "The cause for that is not a natural one! It is magic that forces it away. Dark magic."

"And it is dark magic that possesses her?"

Gandalf put up a hand, to try to calm the elf. "Yes, but I see little darkness in her heart, Legolas."

"But you do see it!" he almost yelled.

"As I see it in us all," the wizard told him. Legolas looked away, ashamed of his outburst. "And as long as she is bound by the forest, she is subject to the magic that made her so. As are you when you are near to her."

The elf turned slowly and continued to walk, the wizard in step beside him. They made their way through the forest quietly, both in deep deliberation. "I must be mad to have fallen so easy," Legolas finally said as if he had been turning the thought over in his mind for some time.

"Ah, but what is love but madness?" the wizard asked, not expecting an answer. "People claim they are love sick - crazy with it. Perhaps only madmen fall in love." He put a hand on the elf's shoulder.

"Or perhaps love is what makes them mad," Aragorn said, swiftly approaching the two from behind them.

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><p><strong>Thank you to those who have reviewed this story! Is is very much appreciated!<strong>


	6. Chapter 6

**Bound by the Forest**

Chapter 6

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><p>Legolas and Gandalf stood silent as they waited for the Ranger to catch up with them. The elf looked down at his dirty shoes, trying to prepare for the questions that his old friend would not doubt ask, but the answers came too slowly. Aragorn and the wizard clasped hands in greeting.<p>

"I did not have a chance to speak with you earlier," the Ranger said to Gandalf. "My heart is comforted by your safe return."

The wizard smiled and nodded his head in thanks. He then glanced at Legolas, who seemed oddly uncomfortable and distant. He had yet to speak a word to the Ranger and stood awkwardly, eyes seeking out invisible shadows in the forest. Aragorn too looked at the elf.

"I will meet you two back at camp," the wizard told the men. He cleared his throat then raised his eyebrows. "Nature calls," he explained, unconvincingly, and hobbled off into the dense wood.

The two remained silent after Gandalf's departure, and it was the Ranger who knew that he must break the silence. "You have been as absent as the rain," Aragorn said to his friend.

"My absence has been noted?" he asked, surprised. He had only wandered off twice, and one of those was during the dark torpor of night.

"Aye, by all," said his companion. The elf said nothing in reply, so Aragorn took a step closer to him. The Ranger put a hand on his shoulder. "There has never been any secrets between us."

Legolas exhaled a long and heavy sigh. His friend deserved an explanation. "What would cause you to break a vow?" he asked. He knew not why he had started his tale there, in the hypothetical future where he did not leave with the companions, but stayed here in this wood. In the future where he had taken back his promise of bow and brotherhood.

"A man's word is his worth, Legolas," declared the Ranger. His eyes were solemn, but intense, trying to find the hidden meaning in his friend's words.

o0oOo0oOo0o

When Gandalf found the tree spirit, she was sitting on the stony bank of the glittering pool, legs submerged up to her knees. She knew that it was the wizard who was approaching, but said nothing in acknowledgement. He sat down beside her quietly and slipped off his shoes, allowing his feet to dangle into the pool as well. He laid his staff across his lap.

"Nothing is more calming than being one with the earth," the wizard said softly. He then turned to the girl. "But you know that."

"Aye, one with the earth," she repeated, a strained longing in her voice.

"You would like that again, I know. But you want something more."

The girl looked from the water to the blue pools that were the wizard's eyes. His mere presence gave her a strange comfort that she had never known before. She smiled at the man, but it was sad, one of the saddest that he had ever seen.

"You know many things, wizard," she whispered. "You know my curse. You know the magic."

"And, another among these mysterious, I know what you desire," said Gandalf. "But Legolas does not." The old man straightened out one of his cramping knees and shifted were he sat as the girl looked back to the water. "Why do you not tell him what is truly in your heart?" he continued.

"What if I am never free of this wood?" the girl asked, but not wanting an answer. "What if I am left here forever, to face eternity alone and abandoned by all? I would be here _forever_, wizard."

His face mellowed in realization. "Ah," he nodded his head. "Spirits can be broken, but never killed."

"Broken..." she whispered to herself, as if that was the first time she had ever heard the word. Gandalf waited for her to continue. It took her a moment.

"He must leave, and I must stay. I want nothing more than to leave with him. I want it even more than to be a tree again. But I thought it better to find first a solution to my form, then to my condition," she explained, quieter than before. "Was I wrong?"

The wizard looked behind them, to a rustling in the wood, but it was only a squirrel that had decided to visit the pool for a drink. It saw the two then double backed and ran up a tree.

"You have little faith in Legolas," the man said. The girl breathed in deeply; his words stung her heart.

"He was the first person I ever touched," she began to explain, a hurried excitement in her words. "The first person I ever spoke to. Before him, I knew not even the sound of my own voice. I knew not this longing in my heart; this burning desire for another," she said unabashed. It was a human feeling after all, was it not? "He is all I know, and in myself I know his heart. It is not lack of faith, wizard, it is reality." Her chest heaved with heavy breaths. "He is the one who must free me, this I know. But I also know that he will not."

Without warning, she burst into tears, burying her face in her hands. Her back bent as she sobbed into her palms. _Broken_. Gandalf stroked her hair to comfort her.

"Have faith, child. Have faith."


	7. Chapter 7

**Bound by the Forest**

Chapter 7

*** Note the rating change. This story is now **M** for sexual content.

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><p>After Gandalf departed, the girl sank into the crisp pool. She let the water saturate her dress, the heavy fabric pulling her down, down, down to the bottom of the lake until she reached the sandy floor. She saw her hair fan out around her, then closed her eyes to keep the cold water from reaching them. She exhaled the air that she held in her lungs into the water, and all was still.<p>

She replayed what the wizard had said: _How else to break a spell but with a word?_

The girl wished she could tell Legolas what she knew, but she could not. It was up to him to discover it... or maybe she was wrong. Maybe he was not the one to free her.

The water around her shifted, moving the girl softly across the lake floor. She opened her eyes and looked up, swimming to the surface. Her aching lungs welcomed the air that she did not realize was missing. She felt she could have stayed down there forever, the pain in her human body lost in the water around her.

"Legolas?"

The elf stared at the girl, surprised at her appearance. He had not known that she was so near to him. He should have. The dual nature of his clouded senses. When they were weakened he should know she was around, but when they were, he did not realize it.

"I'm sorry," he said, but was not sure what he was apologizing for. Was it for disturbing her once again during such a private moment? Or was it more? She swam up to him, and he adverted his eyes after noticing how her sheer dress clung to her body. She was confused at his embarrassment. She did not know to be ashamed at their nakedness.

"Are you upset?" the elf asked. She said nothing. "We will find a way. We will -"

"Please, must we speak of this now?"

"We must. I am leaving soon."

"The wizard can not help. It is done!" the girl lamented. "It is done." She turned from the elf and gently hugged herself, clutching her arms and kneading the strange goosebumped flesh in her palms.

"No!" Legolas yelled. His booming voice almost scared himself as it echoed through the forest. "No," he repeated quieter. "A too hasty prophet has read us our fate and you are ready to accept it! Fight against it!"

She shook her head. "I can't," she whispered, so low that Legolas could barely hear her. "It will rip me apart."

"As you are doing to me now," Legolas said firmly. The water splashed as he came up behind her and placed his hands on her shoulders. When he buried his face in her wet hair, he smelled soft earth and grass right after a rain, reminding him of his home.

"Do not give the universe such an easy victory," he whispered.

"It has already won. I feel I am not longer a part of it."

Legolas turned the girl around to face him. He placed his water-wrinkled fingers on the soft flesh of her cheeks. "That is because your body is a universe of its own," he told her. "I see the stars in your eyes. The sun rises in your smile." The elf ran his thumb softly across her mouth. "You lips are petals." He let his hands wander down until he reached her hips. "Your body is made up of hills and valleys. And... when I was inside of you... I felt the ocean at my fingertips."

Legolas kissed the tree spirit tenderly with his own petal lips. He lifted the water laden dress over her head so she was as naked as himself. The elf's hands were back on the girl before the garment landed with a wet smack on the dirt bank. He kneaded her flesh in his palms and she moaned at the contact, wrapping her legs around him.

The elf's lips left hers as he made his way to her throat, a trail of kisses in his wake. The girl shut her eyes tight, reveling in the way he made her body burn despite the cold water around them. Her hand left his pale shoulder and drifted down until she grasped him in her hand. He groaned into her neck as she stroked him and she smoothly led him into herself.

The pain was exquisite as he buried himself inside of her. Legolas steadied her with his hands on her bum, sliding out then entering her again and again. She was warm and tight around him, a very pleasant departure from the chilly water. He kissed her again, silencing her cries of pleasure from the prying ears of the forest. The girl clutched at his soaking silver hair as they finished, whimpering at the delicious feeling of him releasing inside of her.


	8. Chapter 8

**Bound by the Forest**

Chapter 8

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><p>"I am glad you have decided to depart with us, Legolas," Aragorn said as he clasped a hand on the elf's shoulder. The companions had eaten breakfast earlier that morning and now they were packing up camp, ready to venture on once more.<p>

"A man's word is his worth," Legolas reiterated what his friend had told him with a small smile. He was leaving, but he would be back. After they had journeyed to Mordor. After they destroyed the ring. No matter what happened between then and now, he would be back. He had promised her, his precious tree spirit. _A man's word is his worth_.

They said their goodbyes the night before, under the canopy of stars, on the bank of the pool. It seemed as though exploring the elf's flesh would never exhaust her. She longed to uncover the secrets of their bodies - why their skin felt the same but looked so different, smooth cream against bronze tawny. Why his hair was soft and pale and straight while hers was a mass of thick, tangled curls. She caressed his elf ears, his blonde brow, the hard, flat plains of his chest, and everything else on his body that was so unlike her own.

_"It is easy to turn back when you are still close to home,"_ Gandalf had told him that evening when he returned. _"It is easy to stay when you have something to stay for. But this is the choice we must make: Do we turn back? Do we halt our progress? Or do we continue on, in the face of the unknown?"_

_"It is hard to go on when you know what you are leaving behind,"_ Legolas said. Gandalf nodded his head sadly and the elf wondered what the wizard had left behind. He wondered what they all had left behind - the hobbits, and the men, and the dwarf. What was waiting for them when they got back or what had they lost completely when they decided to go?

"It is best to be on our way as soon as we can. I feel Saruman's presence in this wood," Gandalf said, catching Legolas's eye. The elf looked away and continued to stuff clothes and food and anything else around him slovenly in his bag. When he looked back up, the wizard was packing his own things.

"Saruman, Gandalf? Saruman?" Legolas said in a harsh whisper after he bent down beside him. "Please, do not tell me -"

"She is a victim of circumstance, my friend," Gandalf explained. "She does not even know." The wizard kept on bundling his things at the same slow and steady pace. "We are being tested," he continued. "Each of us. One by one we are going to be tempted to stay. Or to leave. Or to turn back and go home." He stopped what he was doing and looked the elf in the eye. "There will be pain, and anguish, and heartbreak. We have only just begun, Legolas."

The elf made no reply, but held his bag close to his chest and sat his chin ontop of it. He stared out behind Gandalf, to the wood he had grown to love. The wizard stood and left him in peace, allowing him these last few moments by himself. He faintly heard the chatter of his friends behind him. He drowned out their voices with hers. _You remind me of a breeze I was once in love with, long ago. Are you him? Did you return to me in the body of an elven prince?_

_Yes_, he longed to say to her. _Yes, I am him and I have come back. And though I must leave, I will return once more._

A soft tap on the shoulder brought the elf out of his thoughts. "It's time to go," Aragorn told him. Legolas nodded his head and stood slowly but swiftly to his feet. He slung his bag over his back and took one last look at the wood before he walked off with the ranger.

The other side of the forest ended in a steep cliff, Legolas had noted days before. They would have to walk around it to go on. Gandalf agreed, the grasslands surrounding it was safer by any means, though none of them truly saw the wood as foreboding. They headed to the edge of the forest with light spirits and high hopes, none too concerned about the troubles ahead.

"Mr. Frodo," the elf heard Sam say. "Gandalf!" he yelled, trying to get someone else's attention. The rest of the group turned back to answer the hobbit's calls. When they did, they saw a woman standing between the trees at the edge of the wood.


	9. Chapter 9

**Bound by the Forest**

Chapter 9

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><p>"We will continued on," Gandalf said. "Meet us when you are done."<p>

Legolas answered the wizard with a nod of his head and made his way past the others to the wood. The rest of the companions stood still and silent, wondering what was happening and who this girl was. Aragorn had a passing idea; the others could not even imagine.

"Let us go," Gandalf told them as he turned and began walking again. They kept a slow pace, their minds now set on other things.

o0oOo0oOo0o

"I only meant to see you off," the girl said to Legolas. "You did not have to leave them."

The elf brushed her cheek with his knuckles. "No worries," he assured her.

They stared at each other, silent under the shade of the trees. The branches shook in the wind, raining fresh autumn leaves over the couplet. The girl picked one up and studied it. It was beautiful - bright orange and soft, not crisp like the dead leaves of late fall.

"Do you think a spirit yet lives in this leaf?" she asked Legolas.

"You tell me," he said. Slowly, the girl shook her head no. She continued looking down at the leaf, tracing the veins that ran through it like a hundred tiny paths, a hundred decisions, a hundred choices that she was not allowed to make herself. She looked back up at the man and gave him the leaf. He took it and offered her his thanks, vowing to keep it with him no matter where life would lead him. Gently, he placed the leaf in the inside breast of his tunic.

"Go with peace, Legolas," the girl told him. She lifted herself on her bare toes to place a kiss on his brow. She attempted to pull back, but the elf took hold of her and brought his lips down on her own. She wondered if that was the last time that she would feel another's flesh...

He took a step backwards, then another, before turning from the girl and walked away. After a few more paces, he looked over his shoulder and she was still there, between the trees, so much a part of the forest as they were. She put a hand up in farewell.

The group had not gone far; Legolas quickly caught up with them after leaving the girl. Upon his return, they asked him no questions, and for that he was thankful. The companions continued to walk around the wood, slowly beginning to speak once more to one another.

Finally, they reached the other side. They had walked down into a deep valley; behind them, the wood rose up on a steep cliff. Legolas turned and looked at the forest above him and saw a dark figure lingering at the edge. He was too far away from her, he could not see her face and he struggled to construct her features in his head.

"The magic - I barely remember, Gandalf. Will I forget? Will I forget her?"

The wizard nodded his head in affirmation. "The others have already forgotten," he told him, the meaning of his words almost lost on himself.

o0oOo0oOo0o

Up on the cliff, the wind blew through the girl as she watched the men's retreating forms. She closed her eyes and let it caress her skin, imaging it was him, Legolas, the breeze she once loved so long ago that had returned to her. And maybe he would some day come back to her once again.

"A name," she whispered. "You need only to have given me a name…"


	10. Epilogue

Bound by the Forest

**Epilogue**

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><p><em>It is entirely conceivable that life's splendor lies in wait about each one of us in all its fullness, but veiled from view, deep down, invisible, far off. It is there, though, not hostile, not reluctant, not deaf. If you summon it by the right word, by its right name, it will come. This is the essence of magic, which does not create, but summons. <em>

- Franz Kafka

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><p>Legolas stood on the balcony, arms leaning against the cold rail, as he looked up at the stars. It had been a routine that the had done every night since his stay at Minas Tirith. He knew not what drew him from his slumber, to the glittering sky night after night, only that something was calling to him and he tried his best to answer.<p>

"Is it the dreams again that keep you from your bed?"Aragorn asked as he walked out onto the balcony. Legolas did not reply until the man was standing next to him, arms crossed and back against the banister.

"I fear there is something I have forgotten," the elf told him. "Something that deserves remembering. It comes to me in my sleep every night, but it is gone as soon as I wake."

Aragorn smiled softly. "It is a woman," he said. "What else could trouble a man so?"

Legolas stared down at the orange leaf that he held in his hands. He did not remember how he came about owning it, but he kept it with him throughout his journey, taking it out of his tunic pocket whenever sleep denied him. It was a wonder that it held up through travel and battles, but it did. It was still supple and waxy, the veins full and color bright.

"It is life that I am living as I dream and when I wake, this world is menial in comparison," the elf said.

"You're merely restless," the man told him. "Soon you will be off with Gimli, traveling to Fangorn forest and visiting the Glittering Caves of Helm's Deep as you once promised."

"As I promised," Legolas repeated. "A man's word is his worth."

He shook his head, trying to remember, but could not. He had promised someone something. He had promised to return -

"A wise observation," Aragorn said, breaking through the elf's recollection. He patted the blonde's shoulder and made to leave. "Try to get some rest."

Legolas looked back to the stars as the king retreated from the balcony. He would not sleep that night.

"What is her name?" Aragorn said before he went back inside. "The woman in your dreams, what is she called?"

And in that moment Legolas could remember neither the sound of her voice nor even the color of her hair, only that she was there with him once, a dream fading into his thoughts where she will stay, locked up tight, until he could close his eyes and see her once more.

"She is the daughter of the trees," the elf said with a faint smile. "Galadhiell."

-X-x-X-

Under the cloak of night, far away from Minas Tirith, a spirit was leaving her forest -

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><p>Finished!<p>

Sorry about the two short chapters. I'm going to change some things around and add more for later viewing.

**Thank you all for reading and sticking with me through this story! I love you all!**


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